The worst pizza in the world?

[citygirl]

Count me in as a pizza hater here. The cheese is just - wrong. And the sauce. But in general, I'm not a huge fan of the food here. The beef - amazing. Empanadas - great. The rest - mmmm, not so much. And god, I miss spices in food.

 

[Mano Negra]

It seems that you have never been to Panero, the BEST butcher in Buenos Aires.

http://www.fpanero.com.ar/

Not everything good is in Recoleta or Palermo.

Now that is what I call a really useful post, I will be paying these guys a visit very soon! Thanks Kike, it makes a pleasant change from the whining that seems to be filling up this site.

 

[Mano Negra]

Yes Kikedeolivos, I should go to Olivos for pork and I should go to Tandil for cheese and Pergamino for beef.....Give me a break! In over a decade I've been all over Argentina and I haven't seen any significant difference in the quality of ingredients (granted fish is fresher on the coast and in the south) . By the 'classiest' restaurants I was referring to those considered the best by people who know food. Never having been to Las Vegas I can't comment on its steak houses. To be honest, it's never entered my mind that a tacky place like Las Vegas could be known for its food. Anyway, you may be right about the high quality of pork at Panero. I'll try to go there some day but the fact is I am never in Olivos and it is long trip. Isn't there a comparable butcher somewhere in town?

If you look at their website they appear to deliver nearly everywhere within the Cap Fed so you have no excuse not to try! I suspect you wouldn't know how to cook a decent piece of meat if it was delivered to you ready prepared and spend your time eating in crap resaurants and then complaining about the quality afterwards. I can eat and cook here as well as anywhere else in the world. It just takes a bit of effort to source ingredients. Try the indoor market in San Telmo or Rodgriguez Pena around 1700 and you will find everything you need. Or don't bother and just keep whining!

 

[sergio]

Miles....Are you suggesting that BA is full of 'crap' restaurants? Are you whining?

 

[Ries]

I have said it before, and I will say it again-
You will never be happy if you cannot eat the food you have, rather than the food you wish you had, to mangle Donald Rumsfeld's feeble excuse for his war tactics.

Be Here NOW, dudes.

No doubt about it, Italian food, in Italy, is some of the best in the world.

But there is plenty of very good food in BA, and me, I LIKE the pizza here.

Pizza falls under the 95% rule, that also applies to music, art, novels, and fashion- 95% of pizza most anywhere is crappy.
The USA has more bad pizza than anywhere.
And even in Italy, there is a lot of heat lamp fast food pizza that is not particularly great.

But if you live in Buenos Aires, and all you can think about is how great Australian pizza is- well, maybe you should move back.
I saw that movie about australian pizza- and it sure doesnt make me want to plan a trip there any time soon to try it, though-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Pizza:_The_Movie

Pizza here is NOT pizza in Italy, or Chicago, or Stockholm
(my 14 year old was in Sweden last year, and got totally addicted to Lebanese Kabab Pizza, served swedish style)

I eat pizza at La Mezzetta, Los Inmortales, Banchero, El Cuartito, Las Cuartetas, Guerin, Punto y Banco, and many more, and I like it.

I love Fugazzetta, and you cannot get a decent Fugazzetta in Italy, or New Jersey, or anywhere else.

If you cant find good food in BA, you aint looking hard enough...

I am in the states right now, pining for some good Argentinian food.

 

[perry]

Noone is saying that they cannot get good food here Ries . There are many excellent restaurants in Buenos Aires. What many are saying that they cannot get a variety of eating experiences at a cheap price. Is that too hard for you to understand or you are suggesting that I must not critisize anything in your fantasy Buenos Aires? I love Buenos Aires more than you ever would and choose to live and work here not like many who are armchair critics from afar . I believe that speaking your mind and expressing your opinion is very Argentine but maybe you believe that freedom of thought and speech should be curtailed like they are doing in most countries in the world now and soon the internet as well.

Yes sure there are some good pizza restaurants and Guerrin and Punto and Banca are amongst the best but the average pizza in Buenos Aires is very average and the cheese on top is way below average. In the land of beef and cows is it so difficult to supply quality cheese at a convenient price?

I have been to Lima Peru and Santiago Chile recently and their food scenes are much better than Buenos Aires especially Lima Peru which has outstanding food at very cheap prices.

 

[santiargie]

what you should realize is that all the good stuff it's been exported, so if you want to find the finest argentine goods you should check in Europe or the USA, not in Arg

and regarding the pizza issue, i went to italy and didn´t like the pizza it was too crusty, sometimes a little bit burned and with a small amount of cheese....but maybe i just chose wrong places, and i wont say "italian pizza sucks"

 

[Ries]

Actually, several people have said they dont like the food in Argentina.
And many more people have said that on this site periodically.

And how can you possibly know how much I, or anyone else, loves Buenos Aires, and why we dont live there full time?
Not everybody is the same.
I have family and business responsibilities that mean I cannot spend more time in BA right now- but that has nothing to do with not loving it, or having "fantasies" about it.
I would not have bought an apartment there if I was not committed to the city. And when my kids are grown, I will indeed spend more time in BA. So dont judge people you dont know, whose motivations and reasons you are ignorant of. I have made no personal attacks on you, only said that-
A- I like the pizza in Buenos Aires
and
B- that there is lots of good food available in BA if you look.

I said nothing about cheap- good food is never cheap, anywhere.


Of course Buenos Aires is not LA, or Tokyo, or Paris. Which is what I keep saying- I appreciate BA for what it is, not for what I wish it was.
And some things are cheap, and other things arent.

But I still LIKE the pizza there. Which comes back to taste, not some absolute judgement.
If I say there is good pizza, then someone comes back and says, well, yeah, but it isnt CHEAP.

The best Pizza I have ever had in my life was at Baffetto, just off the Piazza Navona, in Rome. And it runs about quadruple what a good pizza in Buenos Aires costs- and its smaller, to boot. So who says good pizza, anywhere, is Cheap? I had a really good pizza in Seattle recently, at Serious Pie- about $15 US per person. Thats not including drinks, or tax and tip- just pizza.
Just down the street, you can get a greasy mass produced american style pizza for 3 bucks a slice- worse than anything at Ugi.

My point being, you have to pay for quality wherever you are, and that includes New York, and Buenos Aires as well.

MY ARMCHAIR FANTASY of Buenos Aires includes not pretending its NYC or LA, but instead, going down to the carts on Dorrego in the park, and enjoying a Bondiola sandwich. Or buying a Choripan at the little hole in the wall on Carlos Calvos on the block of the market, or having a bowl of locro at Cumana, or having some Tarta from El Nueva Gato Allegra, or some Gelato from Un Altra Volta, or a humita empanada or two from San Juanino,
or some fresh pastries from any of the dozens of neighborhood bakeries in my area. I also enjoy fresh squeezed orange juice, or homemade pasta and scarparo from La Juvenil.

A wide experience of eating at a cheap price, if you ask me.

I would love it if more varied cuisines were available- dont get me wrong. And food in Argentina could do a lot worse than being more like Lima. Causas- yum.

 

[citygirl]

I said I don't like the food here. And I am someone that lives here. I'm not whining - I am simply stating a fact. Compared to lots of equivalent cities, the quality and variety of food available here is below average.

Why is it that saying something negative is immediately criticized as whining and typical expat behavior? It's as delusional to sit here and say EVERYTHING is amazing as it is to sit here and say Argentina sucks. The truth lies somewhere in the middle.

And I think there is a great opportunity for some enterprising people (Porteños or others) to open up some restaurants that offer more varied and sophisticated dining options. There are certainly a few restaurants that I love (To, Diego Felix's place, Cluny, Osaka, etc) but there is a huge market (IMO) for varied cuisines.

Am I not allowed to miss dim sum, great Indian, Vietnamese, Thai, real sushi (yes, there is life beyond salmon people), Mexican, etc??

 

[Napoleon]

...and regarding the pizza issue, i went to italy and didn´t like the pizza it was too crusty, sometimes a little bit burned and with a small amount of cheese....but maybe i just chose wrong places, and i wont say "italian pizza sucks"

Tradition "Pizza Margherita" was created to honor the (Queen?) Margherita upon his visit to Naples. The tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and basil were selected because their colors mirrored the Italian flag. (Red, White, & Green)

I had a pizza in one of the oldest pizzarias in Naples and I had to order the "Double Cheese" just so about 2/3 of the sauce was covered. The cheese was seen as a topping for the sauce, not a covering. It wasn't shreaded, but rather poorly cut into small chunks.

You might have run into an authentic pizza place in Italy and the stark contrast from the American version was more than you cared for.

I said I don't like the food here. And I am someone that lives here. I'm not whining - I am simply stating a fact. Compared to lots of equivalent cities, the quality and variety of food available here is below average... (1)

...There are certainly a few restaurants that I love (To, Diego Felix's place, Cluny, Osaka, etc)...(2)

(1) How can you say that it's "below average"? It's WELL below average.

(2) How could you include Diego Felix's place (I believe it's called "Casa Felix", but I haven't been yet.) and leave out Cocina Sunae? Her food is riquissimo! (In fact I know 2 groups, about 5 or 6 people combined, who went just last night.)